the retail industry in singapore is really in a bad shape.. really..

look thru my previous few entries and you can find one of my complains. i'll grade the sales persons in singapore (my personal opinion) as average, or slightly below average. why i say that?

firstly, these sales staffs in general do not know what they are selling. esp when i need to get some electrical stuffs i usually cannot depend on what they say as they themselves do not know the full technical details. for eg, if you want to buy a hi-fi set, most likely they will recommend those brands that are more established. when you ask them how will they rate the performance, their answer will usually be "not bad lor" and/or "this brand/model sells very fast one.." well.. perhaps i'm an engineer thats why i'm rather particular about more details. i'm not satisfied with answers such as "it gives power output of 1000 watts" or "it has 2 yeras warrenty" or "its made in japan" . these are very general things that i can get from almost anywhere that sells the product. if i ask further things like "what is the SNR ratio?", "frequency range?", etc.. most, if not all, will not be able to answer me. well... maybe i'm too demanding to expect them to know almost everything they sell in great details, but i feel that they should know more than just knowing where is the on/off button.

attitude is one of the main killers in many of the sales persons in singapore. many of them, esp those part time staffs, have serious working attitude. once i was shopping in paragon and i went into this shop that sells bags and accessories. the salesgirl, in her late teens i think despite her thick makeup, was busy smsing while a customer was basically waiting for her to finish what she is doing so that she could be served. and its like more than a minute! during this period the salesgirl practically was in her own world and treat the customer as transparent. with this type of bochap attitude, now you understand why singaporeans still prefer shopping overseas huh?

its mentioned in the papers that on of the reasons for low quality of service is due to the low salary. i understand that they do not earn as much as their counterparts who engage in other areas and i feel that they should be paid a more decent paycheck. however, that should not be a reason for the poor service we are receiving. working in sales is not about custoner walk into a shop, pick what he/she wants and pays up, you collect the payment and pack the item and the customer leaves the shop. that is probably in the past where competition is less stiff and people are only concerned about what they buy and not the service. nowadays, service is a very important factor to differentiate this shop and the rest. people nowadays have this thinking: if i dun like your service i'll not buy from you, esp if there are many places that sell the same thing. otherwise, i'll simply boycott you totally even if you are the only place that offers this product.

anyway with the setp of the academy for the retail industry i really hope that the situation will improve soon...